CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta joined Chris Cuomo on Friday night to condemn President Trump's latest thoughts on re-opening, claiming Trump was operating outside of reality and is determined to reopen regardless of "whatever the hell happens."
However, Acosta himself had some problems with the reality of the situation. After Cuomo lamented the lack of any coherent plan, Acosta observed, "People want to go to the beach and enjoy Memorial Day weekend. We just don't live in that world anymore." Of course, people are going to the beach in high numbers and the public health situation has not dramatically worsened as feared.
Acosta added, "And so one thing we should point out what the president has been saying over the last couple of days is he is hell bent on reopening no matter what. Yesterday he was saying testing may be overrated. Today he was saying, well, a vaccine is not necessary in terms of reopening the country. He's laying out these benchmarks that essentially, whatever the hell happens, he wants to reopen this country."
As important as testing is, that idea is not Trump being a science denier. Dr. Fauci said something similar in April: "The emphasis that we’ve been hearing is essentially ‘testing is everything’ and it isn’t." Additionally, much like his employer reporting on a Gallup poll, Acosta didn't care to define reopening as it relates to the availability of a vaccine.
Acosta, then lamented Trump's idea to reopen schools:
He was talking about reopening schools in the Fall and keeping teachers above the age of 60 or 70 from going back to schools or universities. Well, how does that work? How do you reopen schools without teachers of that age? I remember lots of teachers, Chris, back in my day who were that age, or at least they seemed that way at the time. You know, the president is not dealing with the reality of the situation.
The good news for Acosta is that federalism means Trump won't be making those decisions, but such ideas were proof, "the president is not dealing with the reality of the situation. We've seen that since the beginning of all this."
After Acosta decried people on beaches, Cuomo, who has equated advocating reopening with advocating death, claimed, "And look, everybody wants to re-open, so why wouldn't you play the politics that way if you can? Now again credit to the president, Democrats dummied up on this. They allowed themselves to be punitively be the party of 'No,' and they're not framing questions the right way and they may pay a political price for it."
If Cuomo really believes that, he could have started by questioning his guest. Instead, he reminisced how his Catholic school nun teachers could, "throw an eraser better than Andy Pettitte."
Here is a transcript to the May 15 show:
CNN
Cuomo Prime Time
8:07 PM ET
JIM ACOSTA: I mean, we've got no plan, we have no details on that and you're absolutely right. People want to go to the beach and enjoy Memorial Day weekend. We just don't live in that world anymore. And so one thing we should point out what the president has been saying over the last couple of days is he is hell bent on reopening no matter what. Yesterday he was saying testing may be overrated. Today he was saying, well, a vaccine is not necessary in terms of reopening the country. He's laying out these benchmarks that essentially, whatever the hell happens, he wants to reopen this country. He was talking about reopening schools in the fall and keeping teachers above the age of 60 or 70 from going back to schools or universities. Well, how does that work? How do you re-open schools without teachers of that age. I remember lots of teachers, Chris, back in my day who were that age, or at least they seemed that way at the time. You know, the president is not dealing with the reality of the situation. We've seen that since the beginning of all this, but apart from the president, way from the president there are scientists on the case and if this Operation Warp Speed can get us to a vaccine by the end of the year, it doesn't matter what the president says at that point. This society, this country, the rest of the world’s going to be in a much better place.
CHRIS CUOMO: And look, everybody wants to re-open, so why wouldn't you play the politics that way if you can? Now again credit to the president, Democrats dummied up on this. They allowed themselves to be punitively be the party of "No," and they're not framing questions the right way and they may pay a political price for it. But you're right about teachers. We had the catholic school experience, 65-year-old nun had faster hands than Bruce Lee, throw an eraser better than Andy Pettitte. Jim Acosta have a great weekend.
ACOSTA: Watch out for that ruler, exactly.
